Vernon moved a little closer. ‘At the Unit? What do you mean? What Unit?’ What was she rambling on about? ‘Where is the Unit, Lil?’
‘Where is it? In Salisbury, of course.’
Salisbury? He had no idea where Salisbury was, but it wouldn’t be hard to find out.
‘After that, she’s going back to study. She’s a clever girl, you know. She’s going to be a scientist, just like her father.’ She paused and frowned. ‘That was such a shame.’
Vernon realised that Lil was talking about the past. Or at least, this part of her conversation was set in the past. It was impossible to sort the past from the present, or even tell if she was aware of the present at all.
‘Do you know where Kate is now? Is she at this Unit place now?’ he said. It was possible that she could be there, if she was visiting this Leonard person.
‘Pardon?’
He leaned in closer still and raised his voice. ‘Where is she now?’
Lil studied him and then said, in a hushed, girlish voice, ‘William? Is that you?’
‘William?’ What was she talking about now? ‘No, it’s Vernon. Kate’s husband.’
Lil grabbed his hand. His impulse was to snatch it away, to stop her from touching him. But she held his fingers. ‘I knew you’d come back, William. I knew I’d hear your voice again.’
‘Listen, my name’s Vernon. Who’s William?’
‘He was her boyfriend.’
Vernon swivelled round and saw another old lady standing in the doorway, wearing a long coat despite the blazing sunshine outside. From the look in her eye, though, this one appeared still to be compos mentis. She stepped into the room.
‘William was an American GI who Lil was seeing during the war. Oversexed, overpaid and over here. He was one of them.’ She laughed. ‘Awfully handsome, he was, but at the end of the War he went back to America. He promised to write but never did. Broke poor Lil’s heart. She never married, you know. Nobody could live up to her William. I expect Lil heard your accent and thought you were him. Poor thing. Who are you, anyway? I’m Maud.’
Her piercing gaze was unnerving. He explained who he was and asked if she’d seen Kate or knew where she was.
‘I don’t know,’ Maud replied. ‘Lil was talking about her the other day. But I wasn’t sure if she’d really been here or if she had imagined it. She doesn’t make much sense these days.’
‘I noticed.’
‘It comes to us all, dear.’
Vernon shuddered and thought, I’ll shoot myself first.
‘And you probably think you’d rather shoot yourself first, but you won’t.’
Vernon felt his temper heating up. What did this old crone know about him? Suddenly, he had to get out.
He pushed past Maud and ran down the stairs, not stopping to say goodbye to the nurse who had shown him to Lil’s room. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the hall mirror. His face was burning. Quick to temper, that’s what his mother had said about him. It was true, but so what? He liked to think of it as passionate.
He switched on the GPS in his hire car and punched in some digits. Salisbury wasn’t too far away. Then he checked how to get to Miranda’s. He would try that first, and if Kate wasn’t there, he would head to Salisbury and find out what this Unit was and if this Leonard was still there. He vaguely remembered her wittering on about some medical trial she’d been involved in when she graduated – something to do with the common cold, but he couldn’t recall any details. But he still felt hopeful, like he was getting warm. He was going to get his son back. And if Kate stood in his way, he’d really lose his temper.
‘I don’t wanna stay at Auntie Miranda’s,’ Jack whined, halfway along the M40.
Kate twisted round in the passenger seat to see Jack’s sulky red face and downturned mouth. She and Paul had decided there was no further reason to be in Salisbury, after the visit to Sarah’s mother, and were instead heading north.
‘Oh Jack, you’ll have such a great time. Auntie Miranda told me that you’re going to go horse-riding and strawberry picking, and you can play in the sprinkler every day. Your cousins can’t wait to see you.’
‘Well, I can wait to see them,’ he huffed in reply, but Kate could tell that he was slightly mollified all the same. She shot a guilty look at Paul, who was driving. Yes, it was undoubtedly far less boring for Jack to be with his cousins than trailing round the countryside with her and Paul – but she couldn’t help feeling as if she was off-loading him for her own more selfish reasons . . . Paul smiled back at her, and she tried to dismiss the guilt. Miranda had moved house from the address that she’d been at for years – there was little chance of Vernon finding her new address; and she’d instructed Miranda not to reply to any emails from him. Jack should be perfectly safe with her.
‘Are we nearly there yet, Mummy?’
‘I think we must be, honey. We have to come off this motorway at Junction ten, and we’ve just passed Junction nine.’
‘Good. Because I’m bored and Billy’s thirsty . . . Mummy?’
‘Yes, Jack?’
‘Can I call Dad?’
Kate glanced at Paul again, in panic this time. She’d been dreading this request since they arrived in England. ‘Um, honey, I think Daddy’s on holiday too at the moment.’
‘I can call his cellphone. I know the number.’
‘I know you do, which is very clever of you. But . . . I don’t think his phone will work outside America. And anyway, it’s only ten o’clock here, which means it’s the middle of the night where Daddy is.’
‘I want to leave him a message. Why didn’t he take me on vacation? If he’s not in America it won’t be the middle of the night, will it? Where has he gone, anyway?’
Not the British Isles, please, Kate thought, although without much hope. She knew him well enough to suspect he’d jumped on the first available plane when he realised what she had done. She had texted him to say Jack was safe, and not to look for them – but it wouldn’t have made any difference. Since then she had kept her phone firmly switched off and hadn’t even turned it on to check her messages. Her fear that Vern would snatch Jack back again was so deep and overpowering that she couldn’t even allow herself to think about it. She might lose Jack for good. Hopefully, Vern would calm down, given time, and they could sort out access then. Just not now, when it was pride and spite that would be motivating his every action.
‘Oh, honey, I’m not exactly sure. And you know what? I think his cellphone is broken, because I tried to call it yesterday but it didn’t even ring.’ She winced at the blatant lie. ‘Anyhow, look, here’s the signpost for Junction Ten! We must be almost there. Let me just
